Jurassic Girl

Chapter Four

We are on a monorail on our way to the Gyrosphere ride. I sit by myself in the seat in front of theirs. Zach had gone back to being a bit of an ass, ignoring Gray again when two girls sat behind them.
"If mom and dad get divorced, will one of us be with mom and the other with dad," Gray suddenly asks.
I tense up, this was a conversation that I shouldn't be apart of, but I had a feeling Zach wasn't going to handle it the best.
"What? Why would you say that," Zach asks.
"Because they are," Gray says, his voice growing quieter.
"No they're not getting," Zach tries to reassure him, "they're not getting divorced. Look, you haven't been around long enough, they've always been that way."
Zach, you're not helping this situation! All I want to do is turn around and comfort Gray but I want Zach to at least try.
"They get mail from two different lawyers," Gray says.
"That doesn't mean anything," Zach argues.
"I googled. They're divorce lawyers," Gray says, his voice cracking.
"All right, whatever. You know what, it doesn't matter. Okay," Zach says, "I'm gonna be gone in two years anyway. I mean, all my friends' parents are divorced."
My heart breaks as I hear Gray begin to cry. He sniffles and it takes all my self-control not to turn around.
"Hey, knock it off," Zach says as Gray begins to cry louder, "you're gonna cry? Look, you're gonna get two of everything, right? You're gonna get two birthdays, two Thanksgivings, two-"
"I don't want two of everything," Gray whispers.
"Yeah well, it's not up to you," Zach says, "all right? There's a point you have to grow up."
I whip around in my seat, "are you kidding me, Zach!"
He looks at me wide-eyed and I sigh, "Gray, come here."
Gray sniffles as he comes to sit next to me. I give Zach a dirty look before I turn to the kid. He looks down at his shoes, sniffling loudly.
"Hey," I whisper, "Gray look at me."
He slowly looks up at me and I give him a sad smile. I place my hand on his cheek and wipe away some tears.
"I know it's hard buddy, I know," I whisper, "but this will be for the best. I promise you."
"But," he stutters, "they won't be together anymore. We won't be a family."
I shake my head, "no, you will still be a family, nothing will ever change that, and they will love you no matter what. They're just not happy, together anymore, and separating will make them happy again. It will be hard, really hard for all of you, but you have to stay strong, for them, because once it's over, everything will be better, maybe even better than it is now."
Gray nods, the tears finally stopping, and his eyes drying. He hugs me around my waist and I wrap my arms around him. I look back at Zach, who is staring at me. Once I catch him, he quickly looks down towards his shoes. For the sake of his ego, I pretend not to notice the shine of tears in his eyes.

We get to the Gyrosphere ride and Gray is back to being his overly excited self. We stand near the front of the line, with our VIP passes we didn't have to wait long.
"Did you know the soft tissue is preserved because the iron in the dinosaurs' blood generates free radicals and those are highly reactive. So the proteins and the cell membranes get all mixed up and uh act as a natural preservative. DNA can survive in a millennia that way. See now-"
I walk over to the teenage that is operating the ride, Josh.
"Hey Josh, how've you been," I ask.
"Mor? I've been good, why are you here," he asks.
"Claire's nephews are here and she has me on babysitting duty," I laugh.
"Really?"
"What do you think is gonna happen from you just staring at her," I hear Gray loudly ask.
I turn to look at the two boys, to find Zach glaring at his brother. I laugh loudly and Zach looks over at me a small smile on his lips.
"You're up," Josh says to them, "all of our three seaters are out so you can't go with them."
"What, no, she has to," Gray says, holding onto my arm.
"Josh, it'll be fine, I can sit on Zach's lap," I say.
"What," Zach asks.
"Yeah, I'll let Gray have his own seat,"
I laugh, nudging Gray with my elbow, "God knows this kid won't sit still
He gives me a concerned look but sighs, "fine."
I smile, leaning over to kiss Josh's cheek, "thanks, Josh."
Gray climbs into the sphere eagerly. I turn to Zach, who is glaring past me at Josh.
"Zach." I wave my hand in front of his face. "Get in."
He looks at me and nods, climbing into the seat, putting the seatbelt on him since it won't fit around both of us. I climb in after him and sit on his lap, my back pressed against his chest. He puts one arm around my waist to keep me secure.
The sphere begins to move forward and we roll into the valley. Gray was jumping around excitedly, looking for the dinosaurs that should be in the valley.
Gray was starting to get a little upset, with not a single dinosaur in sight. He sat back in his seat and continued to look around, less excited now.
I tried looking around too, but my mind was too focused on the warmth of Zach's fingers against my bare skin. Maybe the crop top wasn't the best choice.
"Where are they," Gray asks.
Zach steers us and then we see them, "oh man."
They are all around us. The gentle herbivores. We are all silent, watching them in complete awe.
"Beautiful," I whisper.
"Yeah," Zach whispers.
I turn my head to look at him, to find him already staring at me. Suddenly a beeping noise cuts off the Jimmy Falon video that had been playing.
"Due to technical difficulties all of our exhibits are now closed," a woman's voice says, "please disembark all rides and return to the resort."
Zach and I look over at a disappointed Gray, who sighs deeply. We share a look, how could we make him feel better?
"Come on, we can stay out a couple more minutes," Zach says.
"But, they said it was closed," Gray says sadly.
"Aunt Claire gave us special wristbands, right," Zach says, "we're VIP dude. Come on, it'll be fun."
Zach pushes the control stick so we start going faster. I laugh as I fall back into him, his arm tightening around my waist. The dinosaurs around us start to run alongside us. Gray laughs as well, excitedly looking around everywhere.
We continue to explore, the dinosaurs becoming more and more sparse again. Zach's phone begins to ring and he reaches for it in his pocket.
"Wow there Zachary," I laugh, "a little to close for comfort."
"Sorry," he laughs, grabbing his phone quickly, looking at the screen.
"Hey Claire," he answers, pausing, "I can't really hear you. We're in the hamster ball."
"Gyrosphere," I correct.
"Whatever," Zach rolls his eyes at me, "hello? Hello?"
He pulls the phone away from his ear, "hmm."
"Bad reception out here," I tell him.
"No kidding," he laughs.
We see the fence ahead of us. I tilt my head when I see the hole in the fence.
"What happened here," Zach asks.
I shrug, "I don't know, I've never seen this before."
"Dude," Zach says as we come to a stop in front of the opening, "off-road."
"But they told us to go back," Gray argues.
"Yeah," I nod, "we've stayed out long enough, they'll be looking for us about now."
"I'm just worried that you're not getting the full Jurassic World experience," Zach jokes.
He raises his finger to his lips and shushes us, using the control to move us through the gap.
"Zach," I start to scold.
He pokes my stomach and laughs, "now who's being a buzz kill."
"I'm not a buzz kill," I argue, turning to look at him, "you're Aunt would kill me if she found out about this."
"Then she won't find out," Zach smiles, "right Gray?"
We go deeper into the forest area, leaving whatever sort of path was there.
Gray getting nervous now, "no no, bad idea, bad idea!"
"Great idea," Zach fires back.
"No!" Gray looks at him. "We're gonna get arrested! They'll shave our heads and we'll have to make root beer in the toilet!"
"What are you talking about," Zach asks, turning us, "there. You see? I told you. You're welcome. Up close and personal with four dinosaursuses."
"Ankylosaurus," Gray corrects him.
"Zach, we need to go back," I tell him, "and there are five dinosaurs."
"Yeah, five," Gray nods.
"Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something," Zach asks him, "look, one two three, four."
My eyes widen as I grip Zach's arm tightly.
"Mor, what-"
Gray raises his arm and points at the reflection, "five."
A low grumbling noise emits from behind us. I slowly turn around, along with the boys. Behind us is a huge, white dinosaur, one that I had never seen. This must be the new attraction Claire told me about a week ago.
It lets out the loudest roar I had ever heard.
"Go go go," Gray screams.
"Shit," Zach yells.
I hold onto Zach of dear life since I didn't have a seatbelt. Both of his arms come around me as the monster kicks the sphere and we go flying, spinning around. We get hit between the Ankylosaruos' like a pinball. Gray is screaming loudly and Zach is yelling, trying to calm him down. Any scream I had is locked in my throat, my fear keeping me silent.
We come to a stop and I finally breathe. The monster roars again as it goes after an Ankylosaur.
"Drive!"
Zach pushes the control stick forward but the Ankylosaur hits us with its tail, cracking the glass and sending us flying again.
"Zach," I finally scream, wrapping my arms around his neck.
He holds onto me again as we crash into a tree, rolling upside down. The two dinosaurs continue to fight. It looks ok until the monster flips the Ankylosaur upside down, and with a sickening crack, it snaps its neck.
"We're safe in here right," Gray asks.
"Yeah." Zach breaths, "they're totally safe."
Suddenly there is a vibrating noise. We all look down at Zach's phone, which shows Claire's caller ID.
Zach tries to grab it, looking down.
"Zach," Gray whispers.
"I almost got it," Zach says.
I turn my head to look forward and I let out a small noise of fear.
"Zach," I whisper.
"Yeah," he asks.
"Look," Gray whispers.
"What."
Zach looks up and he sees what we see. The monsters amber eye is staring at us. It stands up, taking a few thundering steps. Its arms turning us so we are looking straight up at it.
It picks up one arm and slams it down, one of its three claws piercing through the glass, it rotates us even more and we are staring straight up at it. It opens its mouth wide, roaring as it does. The boys scream as it comes down to bite the sphere.
Its teeth pierce the glass and it lifts us up, slamming us back down onto the ground, the glass cracking. It does it again and the glass shatters. Zach's hold on me loosens and then I'm falling.
"Mor!"
I fall through the hole in the back, a scream leaping from my lips. I hit the ground, hard, pieces of glass cutting my bare skin. I look up in time to watch Zach and Gray fall. They land on either side of me, trying to stand up.
The sphere slams down around us again, Zach making us lean down to keep from getting hurt. Once it's lifted again, I help Gray up and we run.
"Go go!"
We bolt away, the monsters deafening roar following us. We run to a grassy clearing just out of the forest.
"Gray, go," Zach yells.
The monster slams out of the trees and I trip.
"Mor," Zach screams.
"Go," I yell, climbing back to my feet.
They run ahead of me, stopping at a waterfall.
"Jump," I scream at them.
They hesitate for a moment, Gray obviously scared, but they jump together. I push myself faster, hearing the monster gaining on me. As soon as I get to the cliff, I dive off it, taking the largest breath I can. I hit the water and swim down as far as I can.
I feel something tug on my foot and I almost scream, but I turn around to find Zach pulling me towards him and Gray.
We wait as long as we can, for that thing to go away. My lungs burn with the need for oxygen, but my fear overides the pain.
When we can't hold our breaths anymore, we swim to the surface. I take a huge gulp of air as I breach the surface.
I can hear the sound of the monster leaving, it grows fainter and fainter. Zach grabs my arm and turns my head towards him, he nods towards the shore and I nod. We start to swim, following Gray who had already started swimming.
Gray and Zach get to the muddy shore first, Zach pulling Gray on to it. I pull myself onto a small grassy patch next to them.
"You jumped," Zach says to Gray.
They start laughing, Zach pulling Gray into his side. I turn on my back and start laughing as well. This whole situation was insane, absolutely insane.
I look over at the hysterical boys, and I can't help but smile. Zach was hugging Gray, grateful to have his brother alive in his arms. Seeing them like this, actually acting like siblings, Zach not ignoring Gray and acting like he was a nuisance, warmed my heart. Seeing Zach actually care for Gray, I was starting to think that I didn't actually hate him.
I push my self up from the ground, "we need to get back to the resort."
Zach helps Gray up, "and where is that?"
"Well." I point towards were the resort it. "The resorts that way, but, it'll probably be best to keep out of the plains, out in the open."
"Then let's go."